Sham Populations: The Farce of the Revolutionary in Conrad’s The Secret Agent and Greene’s The Comedians >>> Boris Hinderer In a letter to his friend Cunningham-Grahame, Joseph Conrad argued that the monstrous anarchists from his novel The Secret Agent “are not revolutionists – they are mere shams” and that his novel had no political bearing on anarchism (Howe 98). Yet Irving Howe’s chapter on Conrad in his book Politics in the Novel claims that there is, in fact, a reason. The Secret Agent conveys some “fundamental truth” by casting its anarchist figures as incompetents (98). Theorists Howe and Ian Watt provide background context for both the period Conrad lived in and Conrad’s personal history which needs to be explored and taken into consideration when trying to determine whether a political agenda in fact exists in the novel, what the political agenda is, and how the actual message is delivered. Howe goes on to ask why Conrad “habitually populated the radical world with mere shams” (98). By doing so, Conrad gives his world a political tilt, which is precisely the critique Howe makes of Conrad’s self-proclaimed conservatism. I’d like to explore and expand this question, so as to argue that Conrad’s The Secret Agent as well as Graham Greene’s The Comedians, portrayal of radicals as shams gives these novels a political stake characterized by the use of humor The Haiti in Graham Greene’s The Comedians is certainly a “radical world,” full of oppressive government, looming violence, and sham figures, particularly sham revolutionaries (98). Just like The Secret Agent, Greene’s novel has significant portions dedicated to the affairs of revolutionaries and their work to undermine the ruling government. These novels are also quite funny, which makes one ask whether it is merely coincidence that two novels written decades apart both adopt a jovial buffoon-like tone when dealing with plots revolving around revolutionaries. By making the reader laugh at the revolutionists, the novels reveal them to be inadequate and ineffectual. The radicals become comedic figures impossible to be taken seriously. Through comedy the radical’s political message is silenced thus putting an end to the established order the radical was opposing. The politics of each novel offer a critique of revolution or to take it a step further – a message that the figure of the revolutionary cannot be taken seriously and, therefore, loses a political stake. By subverting the political agenda of the radical, the politics opposed by the radical become less threatened. When Conrad writes to his friends “The whole thing [The Secret Agent] is superficial and but a tale. I had no idea to consider anarchism politically” he denies the possibility for any political message (98). Comedy can work the same way, as a tool that denies or trivializes certain conclusions. Comedy is an evasive means of conveying potentially controversial or uncomfortable truths. In the course of daily social interaction, the use of humor can often
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